Manchester United vs Copenhagen - Official Match Thread Europa League quarter-final. 8pm 10.8.20

As i've said before on here we need to find a better average for our team's performance levels. We range from looking sublime to looking like a disorganised mess, all in the same game.

We play unbelievably well sometimes but it's always in patches. When we're bad, we're absolutely god-awful. You won't see a team left in european semi finals who give the ball away in their own half as much as we do.

I don't understand why our defence is constantly so far away from the attack. The spaces between our lines are huge. It makes picking out passes from the defence almost impossible.

And i know it's been said a million times on here but I really do think a couple of top class full backs is more of a priority than Sancho. I really do. Ours are so £#%&!ing poor on the ball it's a joke.

Wan Bissaka for all his fantastic 1v1 defending, looks like an octopus on a fishing hook when gets the ball in the opponents half, He looks so far out of his comfort zone that the messages from his brain don't get to his legs properly.

Shaw is a waste of time. Any time we need the #@&%! he's constantly £#%&!ing injured. Williams is what he is - an inexperienced, young, kid who has struggled badly the last few weeks. He had a mare in the game against chelsea, he got absolutely bullied by that west ham right winger Bowen and again last night every single time copenhagen came down the right they got past him.

Re: deep defence.. Because of the lack of reliable, positive keeper behind them and lack of recovery pace between the CB’s and CDM ordinarily I reckon. Also if they’re deep, they’re in a position to receive the ball and not be under pressure, meaning there’s an out ball and less chance of getting sprang upon.

Originally Posted by dunk

Re: deep defence.. Because of the lack of reliable, positive keeper behind them and lack of recovery pace between the CB’s and CDM ordinarily I reckon. Also if they’re deep, they’re in a position to receive the ball and not be under pressure, meaning there’s an out ball and less chance of getting sprang upon.

The deep line is a pace issue, they're shit scared of someone knocking it over the top and getting into a foot race, because Maguire will be outrun or Lindelof will be outmuscled, it's also why our full backs are hesitant to go forward.

For what it's worth Copenhagen haven't conceded more than one in a European game since playing Atletico Madrid 3 years ago, they're set up to keep it tight and they're good at it, add in the extra incentive of a straight one off knock out tie and they pulled a great performance out their arse, it happens.

I thought we'd have closed the game off earlier if Fred had stayed on, we lost a bit of hustle until Matic found the pace of the game, plus Matic's tendency to leave a foot in unnecessarily will cost either him a sending off or us a shit goal from a free kick just outside the box one of these games. Rashford is starting to be a concern, his choices in the final third are consistently wrong or delayed so much they come to nothing, I actually thought Mata did well when he came on tbf to the lad.

Last night made me long for the glory days when we won every match 5-0 and didn't have to send the goalie up front in the dying minutes to rescue a point against a top Rotor Volgograd outfit before eventually being knocked out by them

Originally Posted by rubbernecker

Last night made me long for the glory days when we won every match 5-0 and didn't have to send the goalie up front in the dying minutes to rescue a point against a top Rotor Volgograd outfit before eventually being knocked out by them

You don't rescue points in knockout ties you £#%&!ing cretin.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

As i've said before on here we need to find a better average for our team's performance levels. We range from looking sublime to looking like a disorganised mess, all in the same game.

We play unbelievably well sometimes but it's always in patches. When we're bad, we're absolutely god-awful. You won't see a team left in european semi finals who give the ball away in their own half as much as we do.

I don't understand why our defence is constantly so far away from the attack. The spaces between our lines are huge. It makes picking out passes from the defence almost impossible.

And i know it's been said a million times on here but I really do think a couple of top class full backs is more of a priority than Sancho. I really do. Ours are so £#%&!ing poor on the ball it's a joke.

Wan Bissaka for all his fantastic 1v1 defending, looks like an octopus on a fishing hook when gets the ball in the opponents half, He looks so far out of his comfort zone that the messages from his brain don't get to his legs properly.

Shaw is a waste of time. Any time we need the #@&%! he's constantly £#%&!ing injured. Williams is what he is - an inexperienced, young, kid who has struggled badly the last few weeks. He had a mare in the game against chelsea, he got absolutely bullied by that west ham right winger Bowen and again last night every single time copenhagen came down the right they got past him.

Looking a lot like the £50m spent on AWB is money down the shitter. Especially so when that money could have bought Bruno last summer.

Dalot is strangely ostracized. Is TFM really any worse?

I'd love to know the thinking behind that signing.

Originally Posted by atticusgrinch

Looking a lot like the £50m spent on AWB is money down the shitter. Especially so when that money could have bought Bruno last summer.

Dalot is strangely ostracized. Is TFM really any worse?

I'd love to know the thinking behind that signing.

Yes, yes he is

Dalot literally can’t defend
Every time he plays right back we look wide open down that side

AWB needs to make big improvement on his offensive play if he’s going to be first choice for medium to long term at right back
If Ole doesn’t think Laird can be backup this season then we need to sign a backup attacking right back on loan or on a free this summer
Doesn’t have to be someone great but just a different option if we are struggling to break a team down

Originally Posted by ZiggyStardust

Yes, yes he is

Dalot literally can’t defend
Every time he plays right back we look wide open down that side

AWB needs to make big improvement on his offensive play if he’s going to be first choice for medium to long term at right back
If Ole doesn’t think Laird can be backup this season then we need to sign a backup attacking right back on loan or on a free this summer
Doesn’t have to be someone great but just a different option if we are struggling to break a team down

i'm a bit surprised at how easily some of you guys expected United to win and dominate this game against a decent side in Copenhagen. Not only that, you knew that they would sit deep and defend b/c they would be afraid to open up the game b/c of guys like martial, rashford and greenwood who could open them up in an instant.

There isn't a game this season that we haven't struggled badly against teams that sit, kill space and clog up the middle. That's the space where guys like rashford and greenwood like to operate b/c they play as inverted wingers so you realize they'll cut inside more often than take it to the byline and put in a cross.

We've seen it in the premier league and we've heard managers talk about killing space centrally and forcing them wide b/c they know that is the one area of weakness especially when Shaw isn't on the left. Shaw is better going forward than defending where AWB is the exact opposite so we lose a bit of balance there.

The more frustrating part for me is how flippant we are on the ball especially thru the middle of the pitch. Bruno, Pogba and Fred are very good players and good on the ball but at times just make baffling decisions and the latter two just don't hard enough to create space for themselves to get on the ball in our build up play. Again, that really stands out when teams sit deep if those two guys cant pick out a pass or help move the ball quickly from side to side.

There were signs a few months ago just before lockdown that AWB was improving going forward. Better delivery, moving the ball quicker into the forwards and overlapping at speed. That seems long gone now.

As vital as the attacking aspect of a full backs game is, I'd rather they were a natural defender and work on their attacking game, than vice versa.

We don't help him either. He's often isolated out there and doesn't always have someone showing for him. When Pogba gets into those areas, he's got someone to link with.

I also think he's shattered atm.

But he unquestionably needs to improve. It's not just delivery either. The decision making is awful. He got in behind second half last night, had bruno on the penalty spot in acres. Simple ten yard cut back with a fairly decent margin for error and instead he just whacked it across the face of goal, knee-height where nobody was. Dreadful. He doesn't know what he's supposed to be doing whenever he crosses the hallway line.

Wasn't he originally a winger too?!

Originally Posted by NedKelly

Yes mate, made winning the treble feel like small fry nqat

You didn’t see The treble

Originally Posted by puressence

You didn’t see The treble

Pretty sure I’ve posted the tale bud deflect better next time.

Originally Posted by NedKelly

Pretty sure I’ve posted the tale bud deflect better next time.

Well done

Originally Posted by Sparky***

As i've said before on here we need to find a better average for our team's performance levels. We range from looking sublime to looking like a disorganised mess, all in the same game.

We play unbelievably well sometimes but it's always in patches. When we're bad, we're absolutely god-awful. You won't see a team left in european semi finals who give the ball away in their own half as much as we do.

I don't understand why our defence is constantly so far away from the attack. The spaces between our lines are huge. It makes picking out passes from the defence almost impossible.

And i know it's been said a million times on here but I really do think a couple of top class full backs is more of a priority than Sancho. I really do. Ours are so £#%&!ing poor on the ball it's a joke.

Wan Bissaka for all his fantastic 1v1 defending, looks like an octopus on a fishing hook when gets the ball in the opponents half, He looks so far out of his comfort zone that the messages from his brain don't get to his legs properly.

Shaw is a waste of time. Any time we need the #@&%! he's constantly £#%&!ing injured. Williams is what he is - an inexperienced, young, kid who has struggled badly the last few weeks. He had a mare in the game against chelsea, he got absolutely bullied by that west ham right winger Bowen and again last night every single time copenhagen came down the right they got past him.

Absolutely relentless drone of negativity.

In our last 24 matches, we've won 17, drawn 6, and lost 1. We've conceded 13 goals and scored 57. Some of the football we've played has been scintillating. We're an extremely difficult team to beat. That is championship form, over nearly half a season.

We're not the finished article, but we're a lot better than your endless whining would suggest.

Originally Posted by atticusgrinch

Looking a lot like the £50m spent on AWB is money down the shitter. Especially so when that money could have bought Bruno last summer.

Dalot is strangely ostracized. Is TFM really any worse?

I'd love to know the thinking behind that signing.

When you’re building a team the focus is inevitably going to be on what you don’t have and what you need most. Valencia played that role for far too long, and we desperately needed a proper defender at rb, which AWB undoubtedly is. Once you’ve got that sorted the attention shifts to needing some sort of presence in the final third, which AWB is definitely not. I’m not sure there’s anyone out there as good as him one on one.

Originally Posted by Sapien

Absolutely relentless drone of negativity.

In our last 24 matches, we've won 17, drawn 6, and lost 1. We've conceded 13 goals and scored 57. Some of the football we've played has been scintillating. We're an extremely difficult team to beat. That is championship form, over nearly half a season.

We're not the finished article, but we're a lot better than your endless whining would suggest.

The numbers are undeniable when it comes to our improvement nqat.

Since Bruno has come in, there's been a marked improvement in most departments.

Was getting sick of us breaking all time low records and Ole being compared with Moyes etc in terms of wins.

Very quiet on that front now.

And we're on an upward trajectory. The longer Ole has his feet under the table and the more quality we sign like we have with Bruno, Maguire, the better we'll get.

https://twitter.com/btsportfootball/status/1292942856194273281

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

The numbers are undeniable when it comes to our improvement nqat.

Since Bruno has come in, there's been a marked improvement in most departments.

Was getting sick of us breaking all time low records and Ole being compared with Moyes etc in terms of wins.

Very quiet on that front now.

And we're on an upward trajectory. The longer Ole has his feet under the table and the more quality we sign like we have with Bruno, Maguire, the better we'll get.

don't think it's necessarily the numbers b/c we all have seen the stats and know the run of games the teams is on right now

i think the concern is the slow starts and figuring out how to play against a low block and breaking them down....we've struggled with that all year including during this fantastic run of games

part of the is on the players b/c they have to be ready to play against a variety of challenges and some of the blame is on the recruitment from the club b/c we haven't spent wisely and in matches like yesterday, it shows.

Originally Posted by bosskeano

don't think it's necessarily the numbers b/c we all have seen the stats and know the run of games the teams is on right now

i think the concern is the slow starts and figuring out how to play against a low block and breaking them down....we've struggled with that all year including during this fantastic run of games

part of the is on the players b/c they have to be ready to play against a variety of challenges and some of the blame is on the recruitment from the club b/c we haven't spent wisely and in matches like yesterday, it shows.

Yep. That's a perfectly valid point. The broader point is that we are a work in progress that is clearly improving.

These issues remain, but we're slowly overcoming them. We'd have folded numerous times a year ago.

In fact, we did!

We've improved. So much that we're more focussed on these issues than we are worried about form and league position etc.

Originally Posted by Sapien

Absolutely relentless drone of negativity.

In our last 24 matches, we've won 17, drawn 6, and lost 1. We've conceded 13 goals and scored 57. Some of the football we've played has been scintillating. We're an extremely difficult team to beat. That is championship form, over nearly half a season.

We're not the finished article, but we're a lot better than your endless whining would suggest.

How does any of that £#%&!ing waffle detract from anything I said.